Heirloom rice in Ifugao: an ‘anti-commodity’ in the process of commodification

We analyse the marketing of ‘heirloom rices’ produced in the Cordillera mountains of northern Luzon, the Philippines, as the commodification of a historical ‘anti-commodity’. We contend that, historically, rice was produced for social, cultural and spiritual purposes but not primarily for sale or trade. The Ifugaos were able to sustain terraced wet-rice cultivation within a system of ‘escape agriculture’ because they were protected from Spanish interference by the friction of terrain and distance. ‘Heirloom rice’ is a boundary concept that enables social entrepreneurs to commodify traditional landraces. We analyse the implications for local rice production and conservation efforts.Templeton Foundatio

Multi-agent system process control ontology

An optimal energy infrastructure is essential for adequate indoor comfort. In the design process of energy infrastructures there is no shared understanding (i.e. an ontology) of the design activities to come to an integral design of building and comfort systems.The purpose of this paper is to achieve an understanding of design activities in the context of designing architecture for Multi agents to optimize process control of the energy infrastructure of a building in relation to its surroundings.This paper presents a perspective of ontology of design activities in the Flexergy project based on the shared understanding by professionals of what each specific design activity entails. The Flexergy project aims to develop a multi-agent concept for innovative process control of a Flex(ible en)ergy infrastructure for buildings in relation to their environment and their internal processes